WELD4.0 | Hogeschool Saxion

As in the broad metalworking industry, automation in steel construction has taken a major step in recent decades strong flight. Most steel builders have now automated the operations in the prefabrication of the steel profiles. The last assembly step, where the stored semi-finished products transported to the workstation and welded together proves difficult to automate.

Background information

Very large complex to very small parts must be recognized, transported and aligned. In addition, welding paths must be adapted to custom parts with deviating sizes and tolerances. Due to these challenges, parts are often still fixed in the correct position by welders. In contrast to the large steel construction companies, which often work in batch production, medium-sized SME steel construction companies provide a relatively large amount of customization. There is currently no sector-specific solution for far-reaching automation of their assembly processes.

Welding is increasingly a "bottleneck" in the manufacture of steel profiles, as the number of well-trained and experienced welders in Western Europe is declining sharply. At the same time, the demand for complex steel structures is increasing, with which the connections between profiles are increasing, and so are the dimensional accuracy and relative positioning. Steel constructors are therefore increasingly stuck between the increasing demand, the increasing complexity of steel structures and the lack of qualified welders.

Project approach

More and more steel builders with a relatively large amount of customization are looking for automated solutions for welding. Individual steel builders are experimenting with the introduction of welding robots, for example, but they run into the difficulty of making them suitable for their one-piece flow and the integration with the existing production flow. Therefore, there is a strong need for a sector-specific solution.

Project goal

The aim of this project is the development of the "WELD4.0": a fully automated production line for storing, recognizing, transporting, welding and assembling structural steel for (SME) steel builders. In contrast to existing solutions that operate stand-alone, with WELD4.0 the consortium strives for full integration of the production flow of steel construction companies, with which the greatest benefits in terms of efficiency and quality assurance can be achieved. Thanks to vision technology, the parts produced are constantly compared with the digital version, even if they were made by a third-party machine. This also makes it feasible for SME steel builders to complete the factory automate and improve their (international) competitive position.